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How the Census Was Collected

In the first half of the 19th century, a series of censuses were done to determine the distribution of parliamentary representation. Shortly after the Act of Union created the Province of Canada, consisting of Canada West (present-day Ontario) and Canada East (present-day Quebec), legislators agreed about the need for a census in September 1841. It was to be completed by February 1, 1842.

In Canada East, enumerators visited 23 census districts, divided into 139 sub-districts. These units were made up of cities, towns, parishes, villages and townships. Unfortunately, not all returns have survived. For various reasons, this census was not a success and it was retaken in May, June and July 1844. The total count of the population of Canada East in 1842 was 697,084 individuals. Only the census returns for 1842 have been preserved.

This census is partly nominal, meaning that only the names of the heads of families or households were collected. The other members of the families or households were counted, but not named, and totals were recorded per category.

From Paper to Microfilm

In 1955, the Dominion Bureau of Statistics was authorized by the Public Records Committee to microfilm and destroy the original paper records of the 1842 Census of Canada East. As a result, only a microfilm copy of the census exists as an archival holding. The microfilming of these records was not of consistent quality and not all images are readable.

The digitized images found on the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) website have been made by scanning the microfilms of the 1842 Census of Canada East. As exact copies, a page that was unreadable on microfilm will also be unreadable on your computer screen. Title pages from the microfilm have not been scanned, and contained this information:

Census year (i.e. 1842)

Province

District number and name

Sub-district number and name

Page numbers for each sub-district

Column Headings and Interpretation

A pre-printed or hand-written form was used with headings written in English or in French. For your convenience, we have included the headings used on the English forms in Canada West.

The columns were not numbered and the headings do not appear on every page. To understand how the columns were presented, see these sample pages:

Column 18. Nombre de personnes dans la famille, âgées de cinq ans et au-dessous (Number of persons in the family, five years of age and under)

Mâles (Male)

Femelles (Female)

Column 19. Nombre de personnes au-dessus de cinq et au-dessous de quatorze ans (Number of persons in the family, above five and under fourteen years of age)

Mâles (Male)

Femelles (Female)

Column 20. Mâles (Males

14 et au-dessous de 18 (14 and not 18)

Mariés (Married)

Non-mariés (Single)

18 et au-dessous de 21 (18 and not 21)

Mariés (Married)

Non-mariés (Single)

21 et au-dessous de 30 (21 and not 30)

Mariés (Married)

Non-mariés (Single)

30 et au-dessous de 60 (30 and not 60)

Mariés (Married)

Non-mariés (Single)

60 et au-dessus (60 and upwards)

Mariés (Married)

Non-mariés (Single)

Column 21. Femelles (Females)

14 et au-dessous de 45 (14 and not 45)

Mariées (Married)

Non-mariées (Single)

45 et au-dessus (45 and upwards)

Mariées (Married)

Non-mariées (Single)

Column 22. Nombre de sourds et muets dans chaque famille, et l’occupation pour laquelle ils montrent le plus d’aptitude ( Number of deaf and dumb people in each family, and the occupation for which they show the greatest aptitude)

Column 55. Nombre de verges d’étoffe foulée manufacturées dans chaque famille (Number of yards of fulled cloth manufactured in the domestic way in the same family)

Column 56. Nombre de verges de toile, coton ou autre petite étoffe, manufacturées dans chaque famille (Number of yards of linen, cotton, or other thin cloth, manufactured in the domestic way in the same family)

Column 57. Nombre de verges de flanelle, ou autre étoffe en laine, point foulée, manufacturées dans chaque famille (Number of yards of flannel or other woolen cloth, not fulled, manufactured in the domestic way in the same family)

Column 58. Nombre de livres de laine obtenues par chaque famille pendant la dernière année (Number of pounds of wool procured during the last year in each family)

Column 59. Sous quelle tenure telle terre est tenue par chaque famille (Under what tenure such land is held by each family)

Schedules

The enumeration data were collected using one document, known as a schedule, which included a total of 89 questions, spread across 8 sheets. Questions were asked either in French or in English in Canada East depending on the language spoken by the enumerator.

No agricultural or other type of schedules exist for this census.

Instructions to Enumerators

No document providing the instructions to enumerators on how to collect the names and other information in 1842 has been located.

Issues about this Census and this Database

The 1842 Census for Lower Canada consists of 8 pages:

Columns 1 to 8 appear on the first page

Columns 9 to 23 appear on pages 2 and 3

Columns 24 to 50 appear on pages 4 and 5

Columns 51 to 70 appear on pages 6 and 7

Columns 71 to 89 appear on page 8

The first page is on the digitized image link to an entry in the database for an individual. If you want to view the second page and the following pages, increase by one the last digit of the url address of an image that appears in the navigation box of your browser.